Austerity is a result of reckless decisions

In her recent letter (May 2) Dr Margaret O’Keeffe makes a number of observations about what she calls ‘austerity fatigue’.

She is right when she says austerity fatigue is growing and that cuts in the public sector cause losses in purchasing power across the economy. Given the increased stridency of the public debate, however, I have doubts about her assertion that “there is increasing awareness that the well-being and prosperity of us all is inextricably linked”.

‘What I have I hold and the devil take the hindmost’ seems more and more to be the motto. That is so, even among those prominent people who were part of the decisions, taken during the Celtic tiger period, which bankrupted the country.